NEW DELHI, Jan 10: The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued notices to the Go First Airways that left at lurch over 50 confirmed passengers in a bus and took off from Bengaluru for Delhi on Early Monday morning.
The DGCA on Tuesday sent notice to the airline for “multiple mistakes.” The airline was blamed for “multiple mistakes such as lack of proper communication, co-ordination, reconciliation and confirmation”, which, the regulator said, resulted in a highly avoidable situation. Go First has two weeks to reply.
Many passengers had slammed the airline on Twitter, calling it a “most horrifying experience.” The Go First flight G8 116 took off from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport around 6.30 am on Monday with one bus-full of passengers still unloaded.
The passengers were taken in four buses to the aircraft. Some 55 passengers kept waiting in one of the buses as the Go First plane took off, according to complaints on Twitter tagging the airline, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office.
The passengers had their boarding passes and their bags were all checked in. Go First Airways, responding to the tweets, said: “We regret the inconvenience caused” but has not put out any statement on what appears to be a huge botch-up. The passengers were reportedly accommodated on a flight that left four hours later, around 10 am.
(Manas Dasgupta)